From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2007 #596 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Unsubscribe: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe Archives: http://www.smoe.org/lists/joni Website: http://jonimitchell.com JMDL Digest Thursday, March 6 2008 Volume 2007 : Number 596 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- CNN/NJC [Jeannie ] Re: shining hissing smoking ["Anita Tedder" ] NJC significance and tobacco and Jonazis [missblux@googlemail.com] Re: shining hissing smoking [Victor Johnson ] Excerpt of Weller book in the latest VF [Bob.Muller@Fluor.com] Re: High Flying Bird, Leiber&Stoller, and Joan Collins NJC ["Mark Scott" ] RE: njc, America music, now Steve Earle & Allison Moorer ["Kate Bennett" ] speaking of change & hope NJC ["Kate Bennett" ] Re: njc, America music, now Steve Earle & Allison Moorer [Gary Z ] RE: njc, America music, now Steve Earle & Allison Moorer ["Kate Bennett" ] Re: NJC Clinton takes 3 states [Em ] Re: NJC Clinton takes 3 states [Jerry Notaro ] Re: Hillary or Barack, njc ["Randy Remote" ] Re: NJC Clinton takes 3 states [Monika Bogdanowicz ] Re: NJC Clinton takes 3 states [Em ] Re: NJC Clinton takes 3 states / yard signs [Em ] Re: NJC significance and tobacco and Jonazis ["Randy Remote" ] Re: NJC Clinton takes 3 states / yard signs [Monika Bogdanowicz ] Re: High Flying Bird, George Harrison, Paul Simon NJC [David Eoll ] River Cover on You Tube (NJC) [Michael Paz ] Re: NJC Clinton takes 3 states [Monika Bogdanowicz ] SJC Miracle of Melancholia [Monika Bogdanowicz ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 00:20:15 -0800 (PST) From: Jeannie Subject: CNN/NJC CNN's subliminally throwing stones hidden behind their news reports. Then (stupid) Anderson Cooper makes some kind of smart-ass comment to another CNN news reporter a while ago, when playing a news clip of Barack speaking tonight, that if he noticed that as Obama spoke, there was no audience behind him, as if to say all was staged in a make-believe studio. I was there! How sly, mainstream media can be in construing and twist the truth. And yesterday I saw the slinging of stones begin. Love, Jeannie ~nj~ - --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 08:36:09 -0000 From: "Anita Tedder" Subject: Re: shining hissing smoking Eric wrote: "Does anyone here even grasp the significance of Shine, from the awesome music to the brillient lyrics to the stunning voice?" Eric, there is no-one here that understands this. There is only you. Anita ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 12:30:11 +0100 From: missblux@googlemail.com Subject: NJC significance and tobacco and Jonazis Hi Eric! From: Eric Taylor "Does anyone here even grasp the significance of Shine, from the awesome music to the brillient lyrics to the stunning voice?" If noone grasps it then how can they respond to this question..??? And if noone grasped it how could it be significant? "What AMAZES me is how EVERYONE ignores addressing the point i have been trying to make about JONI'S VOICE for 10 years now: namely that her voice doesn't sound like Help Me anymore because she is not only decades older but, most importantly, she's much more skilled as a musician & a singer." No, everyone doesn't ignore it.That is why her late work is brilliant: instrument has a lesser range, but the musician has more experience. At least it is what some of us feel. But in addition, I think most people believe that the lower range of her voice is caused by tobacco smoking. I don't IGNORE that you are saying this is not true, but just because you (and Joni!) say so, it doesn't have to be right, and I doubt that it is. "If the JMDL is a club celebrating her pre-80s virgin voice & music then i definately don't belong here." Eric, you should know better than to think so. We've had this discussion a billion times, and each and every time, there are lots of us saying how we are deeply moved by her later work. But, if I may say this, YOU seem to IGNORE those responses and concentrate only on those who disagree with you. Those of us who agree - don't our opinions count?? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy reading your posts and am not upset about them. And since I am on your side regarding the beauty of her mature voice I think you have many valid points. But this is not the club for people who agree that everything Joni does is gold. People are honest, and not everyone "gets" everything about Joni. So we discuss! Or would you like the list to be taken over by Joni-Nazis who expell everyone who doesn't have the right attitude...:-D "i sincerely apoligize for using terms like 'folk snobs' and 'smoke nazis' but honestly doesn't it sound like it could be a lyric from Joni's next album?" Yes, it does, haha! Geez I wonder what it would be like if she was on the list, how many times would she get into trouble because of writing things like that. Maybe YOU are joni...? Hehe Bene ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 08:13:24 -0500 From: Victor Johnson Subject: Re: shining hissing smoking On Mar 5, 2008, at 1:09 AM, Eric Taylor wrote: > > Does anyone here even grasp the significance of Shine, from the > awesome music to the brillient lyrics to the stunning voice? > This has already been addressed but apparently only you do. > What AMAZES me is how EVERYONE ignores addressing the point i have > been trying to make about JONI'S VOICE for 10 years now: > > namely that her voice doesn't sound like Help Me anymore because > she is not only decades older but, most importantly, she's much > more skilled as a musician & a singer. > > Oh my God, you're right....she is more skilled as a musician and singer. This whole time, I thought she was frozen in carbon like Hans Solo and only taken out every now and then to make a new album and then frozen again. Of course she's more skilled, that's not anything to be amazed about. Do you think we all thought she was in a vacuum and didn't grow and develop like any other musician? In any case, how skilled or not skilled she is has nothing to do with the affects of smoking tobacco, something YOU continually ignore. > If the JMDL is a club celebrating her pre-80s virgin voice & music > then i definately don't belong here. I have never heard this sentiment from anyone but you. But again, I guess you're the only one who appreciates Shine. Nobody else has even mentioned it. Even when it came out, we all ignored it except for you. > i sincerely apoligize for using terms like 'folk snobs' and 'smoke > nazis' > > but honestly doesn't it sound like it could be a lyric from Joni's > next album? You've used that terminology several times and you're still trying to justify their use even here so apparently that's how you feel. Honestly, that would make her album sound very amateurish if Joni used those terms on it. She's much too SKILLED as a musician and singer to resort to petty name calling. > O i am WAY too 'confessional' & don't quite understand why i have > spent SO much time on the JMDL for 11 years now other than my > exponential LOVE 4 JONI !!!!! > > Especially her latest works You love Joni? I never would have known. What a startling revelation... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 08:36:45 -0500 From: Bob.Muller@Fluor.com Subject: Excerpt of Weller book in the latest VF http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/toc/2008/toc200804 Looks like a lengthy excerpt of the new book will be included in the upcoming Vanity Fair magazine. Bob NP: Audioslave, "Dandelion" - ------------------------------------------------------------ The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain proprietary, business-confidential and/or privileged material. If you are not the intended recipient of this message you are hereby notified that any use, review, retransmission, dissemination, distribution, reproduction or any action taken in reliance upon this message is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of the company. - ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2008 05:49:30 -0800 From: "Mark Scott" Subject: Re: High Flying Bird, Leiber&Stoller, and Joan Collins NJC - ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Eoll" I know the song High Flying Bird. Jefferson > Airplane used to play it in their live performances, though it was > never on an album. It is a bonus track on the rerelease of Takes > Off, and there is a great live version in the Monterey Pop movie. 'High Flying Bird' is also on 'Early Flight' which is a collection of what was previously unreleased Jefferson Airplane music. The version of 'High Flying Bird' on 'Early Flight' which was released in the early 70s, I believe, is a studio recording with pre-Grace Slick vocalist Signe Anderson trading lead vocals with Marty Balin. Mark in Seattle ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 08:04:26 -0800 From: "Kate Bennett" Subject: RE: njc, America music, now Steve Earle & Allison Moorer I love love love Steve Earle. He's on my top ten list of greatest songwriters! Shawn Colvin's 'Someday' introduced me to Earle (I think it was on Cover Girl?). Bob (or anyone), can you pick out the brilliant nod to another earlier antiwar song in the bridge? >When will we ever learn When will we ever see We stand up and take our turn And keep tellinb ourselves webre free< ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 08:27:49 -0800 From: "Kate Bennett" Subject: speaking of change & hope NJC I have really enjoyed Eckhart Tolle's teachings over the past few years (& his books on cd 'The Power of Now' & 'Silence Speaks'). He really has something profound to share in a very serene & self observant way. Not in a wanting to be a guru kind of way at all. Now Oprah has discovered him & is raving about his latest book with a worldwide webcast series of classes. I don't think I've ever watched an Oprah show in my life but this sounds intriguing. This free event is spreading like crazy around the world but I haven't yet seen it mentioned here. If like me, you missed the first 'class' on Monday, it is downloadable & you can still sign up to participate in future classes. Here is the link for those who are interested http://www.oprah.com/obc_classic/webevent_registration.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:25:26 -0500 From: Gary Z Subject: Re: njc, America music, now Steve Earle & Allison Moorer Hi Kate, (and all) When I first saw the lyric, I thought of "Where Have All The Flowers Gone." Don't know if that's what you were thinking of too... Best, Gary Z. Detroit Kate Bennett wrote: >I love love love Steve Earle. He's on my top ten list of greatest >songwriters! > >Shawn Colvin's 'Someday' introduced me to Earle (I think it was on Cover >Girl?). > >Bob (or anyone), can you pick out the brilliant nod to another earlier >antiwar song in the bridge? > > > > >>When will we ever learn >> >> >When will we ever see >We stand up and take our turn >And keep tellinb ourselves webre free< ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 08:28:46 -0800 (PST) From: Monika Bogdanowicz Subject: NJC Clinton takes 3 states A 3/4 state win! This is a crazy race, isn't it? Who knows what might happen? -Monika, who is happy about last night's results - --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 08:31:46 -0800 From: "Kate Bennett" Subject: RE: njc, America music, now Steve Earle & Allison Moorer Yes Gary! That is the one, & even the melody of the bridge hints at it. >Hi Kate, (and all) When I first saw the lyric, I thought of "Where Have All The Flowers Gone." Don't know if that's what you were thinking of too... Best, Gary Z. Detroit< ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 08:37:16 -0800 (PST) From: Em Subject: Re: NJC Clinton takes 3 states you know this is terrible...but now I kind of want Hillary to be the Dem. nominee, after having supported Obama all along. (and I still DO) Its terrible sometimes not to be able to pick sides very well. Wish I could get a couple of Hillary stickers to put on my Jeep alongside the Obama stickers. Em - --- Monika Bogdanowicz wrote: > A 3/4 state win! This is a crazy race, isn't it? Who knows what > might happen? > -Monika, who is happy about last night's results ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:42:28 -0500 From: Jerry Notaro Subject: Re: NJC Clinton takes 3 states I don't feel terrible about finally having a choice. It's the first time in a very long time. Jerry > you know this is terrible...but now I kind of want Hillary to be the > Dem. nominee, after having supported Obama all along. (and I still DO) > Its terrible sometimes not to be able to pick sides very well. > Wish I could get a couple of Hillary stickers to put on my Jeep > alongside the Obama stickers. > Em > > --- Monika Bogdanowicz wrote: > >> A 3/4 state win! This is a crazy race, isn't it? Who knows what >> might happen? >> -Monika, who is happy about last night's results ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 08:50:08 -0800 From: "Randy Remote" Subject: Re: Hillary or Barack, njc From: "gene" > age, race, and gender has never defined a good or bad leader. with that > being said, wonder who will be mc cains vice president nominee. If you are suggesting it might be a conservative white male, personally, I would put money on it. RR ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 08:49:33 -0800 (PST) From: Monika Bogdanowicz Subject: Re: NJC Clinton takes 3 states Well, Obama still is in the lead but this was a big loss for him. They are speculating that NO ONE will get the amount of delegates by the Convention and they'll just have to choose the candidate. But...Hillary Clinton has hinted if she won the nom she'd pick up Barack Obama as her Vice President. That would be a rockin' ticket, eh? Yesterday's Election in Ohio still didn't bring in as much youth as was thought. I worked the Election polls from 5:30AM to just about 10PM (with the complications of an ice storm we had in having to deliver the ballots to City Hall) and it was quite exciting. There were some very lively voters interested in expressing their opinion. There were some first time, 18 year old voters but not as many as I had thought would come out. It was interesting though. My brother also worked the polls at a different location in our city. -Monika, who has a Hillary Clinton sticker on her car and used to have two Hillary signs in the yard which both have been blown away due to the nasty winds over the past couple of days Em wrote: you know this is terrible...but now I kind of want Hillary to be the Dem. nominee, after having supported Obama all along. (and I still DO) Its terrible sometimes not to be able to pick sides very well. Wish I could get a couple of Hillary stickers to put on my Jeep alongside the Obama stickers. Em - --- Monika Bogdanowicz wrote: > A 3/4 state win! This is a crazy race, isn't it? Who knows what > might happen? > -Monika, who is happy about last night's results - --------------------------------- Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 08:56:23 -0800 (PST) From: Em Subject: Re: NJC Clinton takes 3 states yeah, I kinda get that, too. Its not having the choice that I feel badly about...just not being able to decide! One should be able to decide, right? We should all be our own personal "deciders", right??? barf barf... :) - --- Jerry Notaro wrote: > I don't feel terrible about finally having a choice. It's the first > time in > a very long time. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 09:09:02 -0800 (PST) From: Em Subject: Re: NJC Clinton takes 3 states / yard signs - --- Monika Bogdanowicz wrote: > -Monika, who has a Hillary Clinton sticker on her car and used to > have two Hillary signs in the yard which both have been blown away > due to the nasty winds over the past couple of days Monika, what kind of signs were they? Were they the kind where its like a metal upside-down "U" and then the sign itself is sort of a plastic sleeve that fits over the top of it? Did they blow away completely? as in...G-O-N-E....never more to be seen? or did you find the remains? and also, wondering, did the frame stay put? or did it leave, too? My Obama sign (of the type I described) - one day it was just GONE. :( Of course my paranoid self thinks someone took it. But I don't really know for sure. The frame was gone too. I have another on order...but its been awhile. Just wondering if yours blew cleanly away or if there were remnants? thx Em ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 08:54:11 -0800 From: "Randy Remote" Subject: Re: NJC significance and tobacco and Jonazis > Hi Eric! > Maybe YOU are joni...? > Bene - -the same (paranoid) thought crossed my mind : ) RR ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 13:21:55 -0500 From: "Jenny Goodspeed" Subject: Re: I'm going to try this one last time... Free Music!! (NJC) If you haven't done so, I recommend you download Owen's EP. It's absolutely lovely and literate and musically challenging. The vocals are especially wonderful - killer falsetto Owen! And while I'm at it...if you haven't gone to jmdler Kay Ashley's myspace site to listen to songs from her upcoming full-length album, go do it. The songs are stunning little works of art. Thank you both for brilliant new music. Jenny On Tue, Mar 4, 2008 at 9:59 PM, Michael wrote: > Owen, I'm very much enjoying listening to your work. Onward and upward may > you > go. > > Michael in Quebec > > Owen wrote: > > > Okay, I tried to post about this before but it either didn't work or I > didn't > get the digest it appeared in! > > I'm a singer/songwriter, very much influenced by Joni Mitchell (hence my > presence on this list), and I've just released seven of my songs > completely > free as an EP... I would *love* for as many people from JMDL as possible > to > download it, and to hear what they think. The songs are offcuts from an > album > (my first) which will be released this year - they were mostly recorded on > piano, but I have some arrangements with violin, guitar, ukulele, and > electronics. They are quiet and contemplative, made for late-night/early > morning listening really. If you are at all interested please go to > www.myspace.com/owenduff and click on the artwork to download the EP (you > can > also hear songs that were on my first EP and from the upcoming album in > the > myspace player). > > Thanks for your support! > > Owen > > > http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=696 > 66425 > > _________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 16:53:21 -0500 From: "Vince Lavieri" Subject: Re: NJC Clinton takes 3 states I am very unahppy about last night's results - but of the last 15 states, it is 12-3 Obama - anyone want to give the overall total? I used to like Hillary and Bill, but my respect for them has plummeted in this campaign. I am tired of these family dynasties, I am tired of the entitlement that the Clintons feel, I am tired of the nasty campaigning they have done, I am tired of their constant blaming of conspiracies for all their problems. I don't think she can beat McCain, and if she did, she will be a drag on the ticket and we could lose a lot of things that Obama could win for us. Remember that after 8 years of Bill we lost the White House, the House, and the Senate. They are only out for their own selves. I remember a time when we had integrity and we did not vote for people who voted for war. And if she is damned stupid as to have trusted Bush she is too damned stupid to answer any telephone at 3 am. But she wasn't stupid - she was calculating - she thought she'd win on the political calculation. And so far she seems to do ok with her cynical vote for war. She has no vision for America. She is cold and soulless like a shark. There is nothing there but a grasp for power for the dynasty. Vince who can go on at great length why he is for Obama but with every passing day is ever greater disgusted with the Clintons ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 15:04:13 -0800 (PST) From: Monika Bogdanowicz Subject: Re: NJC Clinton takes 3 states / yard signs Nah, my signs weren't the kind that you put into the ground. They were just regular ol' paper signs that were given away at a Hillary Clinton Rally I attended. I nailed the first sign on a tree with two nails one night and my neighbor told me she saw my sign in the bushes. Then I nailed the second sign with FIVE nails but still no matter. The wind was powerful enough to rip it off. All that was left was a couple of nails on the tree. That's a drag about your Obama sign. Who knows? -M Em wrote: --- Monika Bogdanowicz wrote: > -Monika, who has a Hillary Clinton sticker on her car and used to > have two Hillary signs in the yard which both have been blown away > due to the nasty winds over the past couple of days Monika, what kind of signs were they? Were they the kind where its like a metal upside-down "U" and then the sign itself is sort of a plastic sleeve that fits over the top of it? Did they blow away completely? as in...G-O-N-E....never more to be seen? or did you find the remains? and also, wondering, did the frame stay put? or did it leave, too? My Obama sign (of the type I described) - one day it was just GONE. :( Of course my paranoid self thinks someone took it. But I don't really know for sure. The frame was gone too. I have another on order...but its been awhile. Just wondering if yours blew cleanly away or if there were remnants? thx Em - --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:12:26 -0500 From: Deb Messling Subject: Re: NJC Clinton takes 3 states What a "problem," to have trouble deciding between two excellent candidates. I'm pretty much Hillary, but I like Obama and do vacillate. Mostly, I'm damn proud to be a Democrat. I hope that someday my Republican friends will have trouble deciding between the female candidate and the African American candidate (although in their case it will probably be Ann Coulter and Clarence Thomas, duck and run). At 11:37 AM 3/5/2008, you wrote: >you know this is terrible...but now I kind of want Hillary to be the >Dem. nominee, after having supported Obama all along. (and I still DO) >Its terrible sometimes not to be able to pick sides very well. >Wish I could get a couple of Hillary stickers to put on my Jeep >alongside the Obama stickers. >Em - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Deb Messling -^..^- dlmessling@rcn.com http://www.sensibleshoes.vox.com - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:28:45 -0500 From: David Eoll Subject: Re: High Flying Bird, George Harrison, Paul Simon NJC Mark Scott wrote: > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Eoll" > I know the song High Flying Bird. Jefferson > >> Airplane used to play it in their live performances, though it was >> never on an album. It is a bonus track on the rerelease of Takes Off, >> and there is a great live version in the Monterey Pop movie. > > > 'High Flying Bird' is also on 'Early Flight' which is a collection of > what was previously unreleased Jefferson Airplane music. The version of > 'High Flying Bird' on 'Early Flight' which was released in the early > 70s, I believe, is a studio recording with pre-Grace Slick vocalist > Signe Anderson trading lead vocals with Marty Balin. > The studio version w/ Signe is the bonus track of which I speak. Good stuff. One of the things I love about so many of these old albums being released on CD is that some labels take the opportunity to stuff some extra treats in there that otherwise would've never seen the light of day. Although, it appears this particular treat had been released before. One of my current favorite outtakes is I Live For You which was an outtake from George Harrison's All Things Must Pass. Sweet, sweet pedal steel on that track. John may have been my favorite Beatle, but George was my favorite ex-Beatle, may they both rest in peace. I should let y'all know what has currently been hogging my car CD player. Has anyone heard The Paul Simon Songbook? It was released in the UK sometime in between Wednesday 3AM and Sounds of Silence. So, 1965, I guess? Its just Paul on acoustic guitar singing many songs that would eventually end up on Sounds of Silence and P,S,R&T. As an acoustic guitar player (of sorts), I'm a big fan of unplugged versions of songs. Makes it easier for me to figure them out. There are a couple of songs on there that I'd never heard before. And a remake of one of the songs from Wed. 3AM: He Was My Brother. Did anyone else here know that Paul Simon was room-mates in college with Andrew Goodman, one of the three CORE kids that were shot in Mississippi? Small world. I always figured the song was a tribute to those young men, but I had no idea the song was so personal for Paul. I just found that out today. The Internet's kind of nifty like that, ain't it? :) Peace, David Eoll ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:59:34 -0500 From: srobe444@aol.com Subject: Re: onlyJMDL Digest V2007 #479 Joni's Voice -Smoking I remember walking out of her concert in 1974 at the Nassau Coliseum and seeing a poster of her smoking a cigarette aand everybody exclaiming oh! how terrible, she smokes even me, and I was smoking Camels I bought the poster for 6 bucks too and had it over my bed for a long while (yellowed with cigarette smoke!) but her voice has been damaged. Part of it may be age, but there is a Tom Waites quality in it that forces her into lower registers. Not a growl yet, but it's heading that way. A telling point may be that my favorite song on the new album is the instrumental. I read on a music blog that Joni's best voice was in Mingus, and I think I agree. Her voice had deepened from the folkie STAS time and had not yet gotten to that smoky barroom voice where it is now I'd still pay a $125 to see her though. Even a $125 Canadian! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 12:24:44 -0800 From: "Randy Remote" Subject: Re: NJC Clinton takes 3 states > A 3/4 state win! This is a crazy race, isn't it? Who knows what might > happen? > -Monika, who is happy about last night's results It's good to know the Democrats have figured out how to hack into those Diebold machines. And they say money can't buy you love. RR, electronic voting fanatic ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 21:56:24 -0600 From: Michael Paz Subject: River Cover on You Tube (NJC) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aB_YFW4-fU has anyone seen this by Alison Crowe (not that one) from Canada on You Tube?? Paz Michael Paz michael@thepazgroup.com Tour Manager Preservation Hall Jazz Band http://www.preservationhall.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 20:25:50 -0800 (PST) From: Monika Bogdanowicz Subject: Re: NJC Clinton takes 3 states Hmm, I thought about your post all day long--I read it in the morning and decided to reply tonight. I know I can say a load of things and that won't change your mind just as not anything you could say would change mine...so we'll have to agree to disagree on Hillary Clinton. One thing I will say and disagree with you on, was your comment on the nastiness of the campaign. Compared to other campaigns (congressmen and all that included) I actually thought the level of nastiness thus far has been very low. I don't see really any ads for Obama showing Hillary and slamming her or vice versa. The ads seem to focus on the candidates themselves (accomplishments or their message) rather than showing their opponent and tearing them apart (as we usually see). -Monika Vince Lavieri wrote: I am very unahppy about last night's results - but of the last 15 states, it is 12-3 Obama - anyone want to give the overall total? I used to like Hillary and Bill, but my respect for them has plummeted in this campaign. I am tired of these family dynasties, I am tired of the entitlement that the Clintons feel, I am tired of the nasty campaigning they have done, I am tired of their constant blaming of conspiracies for all their problems. I don't think she can beat McCain, and if she did, she will be a drag on the ticket and we could lose a lot of things that Obama could win for us. Remember that after 8 years of Bill we lost the White House, the House, and the Senate. They are only out for their own selves. I remember a time when we had integrity and we did not vote for people who voted for war. And if she is damned stupid as to have trusted Bush she is too damned stupid to answer any telephone at 3 am. But she wasn't stupid - she was calculating - she thought she'd win on the political calculation. And so far she seems to do ok with her cynical vote for war. She has no vision for America. She is cold and soulless like a shark. There is nothing there but a grasp for power for the dynasty. Vince who can go on at great length why he is for Obama but with every passing day is ever greater disgusted with the Clintons - --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 20:37:39 -0800 (PST) From: Monika Bogdanowicz Subject: SJC Miracle of Melancholia Has anyone read the article from the JMDL library titled "The Miracle of Melancholia?" It is an article that theorizes that one needs pain in order to create...a concept I am fascinated by. It mentions Joni towards the end. What do you think of this idea and article? -M ------------------------------------------------------------------ The miracle of melancholia Eric G. Wilson [Los Angeles Times] February 17, 2008 We're a nation obsessed with being happy, but sometimes feeling bad can do you some good. In April of 1819, right around the time that he began to suffer the first symptoms of tuberculosis -- the disease that had already killed his mother and his beloved brother, Tom -- the poet John Keats sat down and wrote, in a letter to his brother, George, the following question: "Do you not see how necessary a World of Pains and troubles is to school an Intelligence and make it a Soul?" Implied in this inquiry is an idea that is not very popular these days -- at least not in the United States, which is characterized by an almost collective yearning for complete happiness. That idea is this: A person can only become a fully formed human being, as opposed to a mere mind, through suffering and sorrow. This notion would seem quite strange, possibly even deranged, in a country in which almost 85% of the population claims, according to the Pew Research Center, to be "very happy" or at least "happy." Indeed, in light of our recent craze for positive psychology -- a brand of psychotherapy designed not so much to heal mental illness as to increase happiness -- as well as in light of our increasing reliance on pills that reduce sadness, anxiety and fear, we are likely to challenge Keats' meditation outright, to condemn it as a dangerous and dated affront to the modern American dream. But does the American addiction to happiness make any sense, especially in light of the poverty, ecological disaster and war that now haunt the globe, daily annihilating hundreds if not thousands? Isn't it, in fact, a recipe for delusion? And aren't we merely trying to slice away what is most probably an essential part of our hearts, that part that can reconcile us to facts, no matter how harsh, and that also can inspire us to imagine new and more creative ways to engage with the world? Bereft of this integral element of our selves, we settle for a status quo. We yearn for comfort at any cost. We covet a good night's sleep. We trade fortitude for blandness. When Keats invoked the fertility of pain, he knew what he was talking about. Though he was young when he composed his question -- only 24 -- he had already experienced a lifetime of pain. His father had died after falling from a horse when the future poet was only 9. A few years later, Keats nursed his mother assiduously through tuberculosis, but she died in 1810, when he was 15. Soon after, he was taken from a boarding school he loved and required to apprentice as an apothecary; he then underwent a gruesome course in surgery in one of London's hospitals (in the days before anesthesia). Orphaned and mournful, Keats spent his days brooding. But after much contemplation, he decided that sorrow was not a state to be avoided, not a weakness of the will or a disease requiring cure. On the contrary, Keats discovered that his ongoing gloom was in fact the inspiration for his greatest ideas and his most enduring creations. v What makes us melancholy, Keats concluded, is our awareness of things inevitably passing -- of brothers dying before they reach 20; of nightingales that cease their songs; of peonies drooping at noon. But it is precisely when we sense impending death that we grasp the world's beauty. Keats was of course not the only great artist to translate melancholia into exuberance. This metamorphosis of sadness to joy has been a perennial if frequently unacknowledged current in Western art. Consider George Frideric Handel, the 18th century composer. By 1741, when he was in his mid-50s, Handel found himself a fallen man. Once a ruler of the musical world, he had suffered several failed operas as well as poor health. He was left in a state of poverty, sickness and heartsickness. Living in a run-down house in a poor part of London, he expected any day to be thrown into debtor's prison or to die. But then, out of nowhere, as if by some divine agency, Handel received a libretto based on the life of Jesus and an invitation to compose a work for a charity benefit performance. On Aug. 22, 1741, in his squalid rooms on Brook Street, Handel saw potentialities no one had before seen. Immediately, he felt a creative vitality course through his veins. During a 24-day period, he barely slept or ate. He only composed, and then composed more. At the close of this brief period, he had completed "Messiah," his greatest work, a gift from the depths of melancholia. We could also recall Georgia O'Keeffe, the 20th century painter. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, O'Keeffe left the East Coast for Taos, N.M. She fell profoundly in love with the lonely vistas of this world denuded of human corruption. However, even though she was enlivened by this part of the world, in 1932, her lifelong battle with melancholia caught up with her. She was hospitalized for psychoneurosis. Rather than quelling her creative spirit, this breakdown did the opposite. Upon being discharged, she returned to the Southwest. There, in 1935, she painted some of her bleakest and most beautiful landscapes: "Purple Hills near Abiquiu" and "Ram's Head, White Hollyhock Hills." Both feature dark things amid the desert's glare -- gloomy shadows and stormy clouds. Into these haunting shades -- hovering amid hard-scrabble rock and a sinister skull -- one stares. One senses something there as silent and sacred as bones. Joni Mitchell confessed in an interview that she has frequently endured long periods of gloom. But she has not shied away from the darkness. Instead, she sees her sorrow as the "sand that makes the pearl" -- as the terrible friction that produces the lustrous sphere. Given her fruitful struggles with sadness, Mitchell has understandably feared its absence. "Chase away the demons," she has said, "and they will take the angels with them." Melancholia, far from error or defect, is an almost miraculous invitation to rise above the contented status quo and imagine untapped possibilities. We need sorrow, constant and robust, to make us human, alive, sensitive to the sweet rhythms of growth and decay, death and life. This of course does not mean that we should simply wallow in gloom, that we should wantonly cultivate depression. I'm not out to romanticize mental illnesses that can end in madness or suicide. On the contrary, following Keats and those like him, I'm valorizing a fundamental emotion too frequently avoided in the American scene. I'm offering hope to those millions who feel guilty for being downhearted. I'm saying that it's more than all right to descend into introspective gloom. In fact, it is crucial, a call to what might be the best portion of ourselves, those depths where the most lasting truths lie. Eric G. Wilson is a professor of English at Wake Forest University and author of "Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy." - --------------------------------- Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2007 #596 ***************************** ------- Post messages to the list by clicking here: mailto:joni@smoe.org Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------